In Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, we never see Rufus introduce himself to Bill and Ted. Instead, Future Bill says to Present Bill and Present Ted: "Listen to this dude, Rufus. He knows what he's talking about."

How did Future Bill know what Rufus's name was? Did he read it in the history books?

How do Bill and Ted know what Rufus's name is when? He doesn't exist in history books in the "present", so they have to just take him at face value when he introduces himself as Rufus (why wouldn't they?). Beyond that, how does anyone know what anyone's name really is?
– phantom42Jul 18 '13 at 14:38

1

didn't rufus introduce himself when they first met?
– acolyteJul 18 '13 at 14:50

@phantom42: how did they know. I just watched it again last night. And I couldn't figure out how they knew. He never actually says his name. Bill does. "Listen to this dude, Rufus. He knows what he's talking about." Then the other Bill and Ted nod in agreement.
– Trav LaneJul 18 '13 at 15:06

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@phantom42 oh, that's simple then. future bill and Future ted knew rufus's name because when they were in POV bill and POV ted's place, THEIR future Bill and future Ted greeted Rufus by name.
– acolyteJul 18 '13 at 15:07

2 Answers
2

Bill and Ted call Rufus by his name when they meet up with their original self, thereby allowing the original self to know the name of Rufus, so that when the ones from the movie timeline arrive back to meet their current self in their timeline, they can say hello to Rufus.Confused yet?

The "Rufus!" comes from the Bill and Ted from their future timeline, thus creating a Stable time loop, as Rufus does not introduce himself.

No..not confused. I'm a bit of a time travel buff. I can hold my own. So...here's another question...How do they know that his name is Rufus? It had to come from somewhere.
– Trav LaneJul 18 '13 at 15:12

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@TravLane: that seems like it's the same question.
– Paul D. WaiteJul 18 '13 at 15:14

Okay..I'll take it from this end. In the future, as he grows up, everyone cause him Rufus. He is told to go back in time to help "The Two Great Ones". He never tells them his name. When the "future B&T" show up. They say his name. How about if, before they showed up at the CIRCLE-K again, they were present for his birth. And named him Rufus. Then went back to the CIRCLE-K and told their past selves.
– Trav LaneJul 18 '13 at 15:21

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It's like asking "Where does this circle start?" It doesn't start anywhere. It's a continuous line. Go back or forwards as much as you want, you'll end up where you were, and no closer to your answer.
– AlbeyAmakiirJul 18 '13 at 22:42

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The Rufus joke is just like the joke when they get out of jail because they left themselves the keys, which they were able to do because they were out of jail with the keys they had left themselves. This is a more subtle example of a running gag throughout this movies and the sequel.
– psrJul 18 '13 at 23:48

1) The Future Bill & Ted we see never met their future selves (this theorizes that the Future Bill & Ted we see is the first copy who initially enter the loop). In this scenario, Rufus had to have introduced himself to them. Or did he?

2) The Future Bill & Ted we see met their future selves and are told Rufus' name. But this assumes that someone, at some point is introduced to Rufus - and NOT by any version of Bill & Ted.

Two people meet him - and refer to him by name - and are NOT introduced to Rufus by any version of Bill & Ted: the princesses.

Ted: We looked all over England for you.

Bill: Where'd you get those savory clothes?

Elisabeth: Rufus introduced us to a place called the mall.

Flora: And something called credit cards.

Rufus: I got them out of England just before they had to marry those royal ugly dudes.

Rufus was not in England with Bill & Ted. He went there separately to rescue them and by this point has clearly introduced himself by name to them.

So even if Rufus never introduced himself to the original Bill & Ted, they still learn his name from the princesses.